PROJECTS

Silk is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2011. Written by Peter Moffat, the series follows a set of barristers, and what they do to attain the rank of Queen's Counsel, known as "taking silk."

Silk follows a set of barristers from a chambers in London. The series' main focus is on Martha Costello (Maxine Peake) and her ambition to become Queen's Counsel as well as on her rival, Clive Reader (Rupert Penry-Jones). Martha achieves her ambition at the end of Series One, leaving Clive disappointed. He however becomes a QC in the opening episode of Series 3.

Neil plays the senior clerk at chambers, he is the man that holds the place together.

He clerks Martha's and Clive's lives, both professionally and personally and he always makes sure he knows everything. However he is also a Dickensian man, set in his ways and convinced that only his way can work.

Not without charm, he is a ducker and a diver and absolutely loyal to Martha. Faced with a new Practice Manager brought in after the events of series 2, Billy is finding it hard to retain the tradition and history of the old ways he so dearly believes in. Can he adapt? And in a battle of old versus new, can he win?

Still battling cancer, Billy is finding it hard to hide his condition from those around him. With treatment affecting his hormones Billy is forced to look to the future. When your life is danger, how do you choose to live what time you may have left? And what will become of Shoe Lane without Billy at its helm?

The series' writer, Peter Moffat, also wrote the series Criminal Justice and North Square, as well as an episode of Kavanagh QC. Before the series started, Moffat said in an interview, "I wanted Silk to be full of politics and intrigue. From my experience at the Bar, I felt life in chambers had all of those components, with big stories and lots of courtroom drama—but I wanted to make it as much about barristers and their life in chambers as about the trials".

Series 1 aired February to March 2011; series 2 - May to June 2012 and series 3 - 24th February to 31st March 2014.